Decision and indecision: Cheryl left the decision to the other judges, but if it had gone to deadlock Katie would have gone, not Treyc

Eventually she refused to choose at all – and Miss Cohen was kicked off the show after the other judges voted against her by two to one.

Yesterday, however, O’Leary revealed how Miss Cole’s apparently agonising decision had actually been decided by show bosses during the commercial break – as more cynical viewers perhaps might have suspected all along.

'We thought it might happen before the break when we found out who
was in the bottom two,’ he said.

'We decided if she wasn’t
going to vote, we would go to the majority verdict.’

Moment of truth: Host Dermot O'Leary challenges Cheryl as Katie and Treyc watch on, but he has now revealed the confrontation was all staged

The disclosure puts the episode in a disturbing new light and comes as calls are growing among fans for Miss Cole to be axed from her £1.7million job.

Sack Cheryl campaign grows...

Furious viewers have complained in their hundreds to telly watchdog Ofcom - more
than 2,000 to date - with ITV receiving more than 1,000 complaints.

Almost 70 per cent of people polled by Mail Online say that the Girls Aloud singer should be axed from the judging panel.

A Facebook group set up called 'Sack Cheryl Cole
From X Factor' is also receiving a growing number of followers.

Facebook user David Watt raged: 'There should be a
public voting ban which would hit the X factor in their pocket until
Cheryl is sacked for not doing the job she is paid to do.'

He continued: 'If not, we should get all our money back from last weekend, is this another ITV voting scandal?'

Of almost 6,890 people polled on MailOnline, 4795 called for Cheryl to be sacked as a
judge, while 2095 thought she should be allowed to remain on the show.

Julie
from West Yorkshire summed up many people's feelings when she wrote on
the Mail Online comment boards: Cheryl should be disqualified for
refusing to vote,she gets highly paid to be a judge on the panel.

'If she doesn't want to vote she needs to leave the show. The show is a farce.'

Linda from Northfleet insisted: 'It's so obvious that it's fixed' and
Linda from Dublin outlined her argument to Ofcom, saying: 'Cheryl Cole
refused to vote there was no chance of deadlock and no way that the
public vote could be used.

'Therefore, there was NEVER a chance that the votes for the bottom two could count.

'In
the past where the public votes have been made irrelevant in other
shows, the company has been sanctioned and I believe this company and Ms
Cole should be fined.'

However, some viewers seemed resigned that Cheryl would remain unchallenged in her judge's seat.

Under the rules of the show, the four judges vote to decide which contestant is saved.

Simon Cowell went first and voted to save Miss Waissel, with Miss Cole told she had to vote next.

She and O’Leary then had an ‘argument’ over what to do as she told him: ‘I’m not sending either of them home, Dermot.’

He replied, ‘you’re refusing to vote?’ and she said, ‘I’m refusing point blank’, adding: ‘I don’t have to send anybody home.’

As the tension mounted she told O’Leary: ‘OK, well ask these two then and I’ll take it to deadlock.’

O’Leary said: ‘We’re going to move it on, we’re going to take a majority verdict.’

He turned to judge Dannii Minogue, and said: ‘If you go with Treyc, she’s going home.’

She voted to send Miss Waissel home, with Louis Walsh voting next for Miss Cohen to go, meaning Cole did not need to vote.

The controversy came as TV sources confirmed Miss Cohen had received three times as many votes as Miss Waissel in the public vote.

So if Miss Cole had voted for Miss Cohen – making the judges’ scoring 2-2 and so going to ‘Deadlock’ where the contestant with the lowest public vote is ousted – it would have been Miss Waissel who went home.

ITV has already received more than 1,000 complaints and telly watchdog Ofcom has also had more than 2,000 complaints to date.

And the father of Miss Cohen, a call centre worker from Tamworth, Staffordshire, has criticised Cowell for overseeing the result.

Fitzgerald Cohen, 68, said that both Miss Cole and Cowell owed Miss Cohen an apology.

‘I think the judges get instructions as they go out on to the stage as to who they are supposed to keep in,’ he said.

‘I think if the judges let it go to deadlock, Treyc would have
stayed. But I think they wanted to keep Katie in, so they refused to let
it come down to the public vote.’

Mr Cohen, 68, added: ‘The main aim is to make as much money as possible, with no regard to people’s lives.’

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An
X Factor spokesman said: ‘A judge can abstain from placing a vote.
Cheryl made it clear that she would not send anyone home and therefore
abstained from voting.

‘Dermot went back to her to clarify
that it was going to go to a majority vote if she did that. Cheryl was
unable to take the vote to deadlock as deadlock requires a valid active
vote.’

Royal approval: Cole ignored the growing storm surrounding her
refusal to judge on Sunday night's X Factor when she met Prince Charles
with fellow judge Dannii Minogue at the Pride of Britain Awards on Monday night in London

Ex Factor: TV sources confirmed Miss Cohen had received three times as many votes as Miss Waissel in the public vote